The present disclosure relates generally to cabinets, and more specifically to electronics cabinets.
Outdoor electronic cabinets have become popular in recent years. They can protect a wide range of electronic equipment including radios, multicarrier power amplifiers (MCPA), power supplies, batteries, and wireless cell site backhaul equipment. These cabinets can protect base station equipment from environmental conditions while minimizing operating expenses and energy consumption.
Typically, electronics cabinets include one or two doors mounted to the front of the cabinet to provide access to components positioned within the front portion of the cabinet.
Unfortunately, electronics cabinets are often targets for theft and vandalism, with batteries being a particularly attractive commodity. As such, locking systems that prevent unwanted access to an interior of an electronics cabinet are desirable.
The present disclosure provide aspects for providing security to cabinets, including electronics cabinets. Some aspects of the present disclosure provide a theft deterrent system, with the theft deterrent system including a handle cover having through-holes dimensioned to align with a through-hole in a handle of an electronics cabinet. The handle cover is adapted to at least partially cover the handle, and the through-holes of the handle cover are dimensioned to receive a shackle of a lock. The theft deterrent system also includes a shackle cover dimensioned to receive the shackle of the lock. The shackle cover includes an upper tab and a lower tab, each including a respective shackle slot therein dimensioned to receive the shackle of the lock.
Some aspects of the present disclosure systems provide methods of securing an electronics cabinet. For example, a method may include aligning through-holes in a handle cover with a through-hole in a handle of an electronics cabinet, where the handle cover is adapted to at least partially cover the handle; inserting a shackle of a lock through the through-holes in the handle cover and the through-hole in the handle of the electronics cabinet; locking the lock; and positioning the lock in an opening of the handle cover.
Some aspects of the present disclosure provide a shackle cover having a unitary body including an upper tab and a lower tab, each including a respective shackle slot therein dimensioned to receive a shackle of a lock. The shackle cover may include a through-hole in the lower tab dimensioned to receive the shackle of the lock. The shackle cover may have outer walls dimensioned such that a height of the shackle cover along the outer walls is greater than a height of the shackle cover at the upper tab.
Some aspects of the present disclosure provide a system that includes an electronics cabinet. The system also includes a handle cover including through-holes dimensioned to align with a through-hole in a handle of the electronics cabinet, with the handle cover adapted to at least partially cover the handle, and with the through-holes of the handle cover dimensioned to receive a shackle of a padlock. The system also includes a shackle cover dimensioned to receive the shackle of the padlock. The shackle cover may include an upper tab and a lower tab, each including a respective shackle slot therein dimensioned to receive the shackle of the padlock.
The inventive concepts provided in the present disclosure are described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which embodiments of the inventive concepts are shown. These inventive concepts may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the inventive concepts to those skilled in the art.
Like numbers refer to like elements throughout. In the figures, the thickness of certain lines, layers, components, elements or features may be exaggerated for clarity.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the inventive concepts. Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which these inventive concepts belong. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the specification and relevant art and should not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein. Well-known functions or constructions may not be described in detail for brevity and/or clarity.
As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. As used herein, phrases such as “between X and Y” and “between about X and Y” should be interpreted to include X and Y. As used herein, phrases such as “between about X and Y” mean “between about X and about Y.” As used herein, phrases such as “from about X to Y” mean “from about X to about Y.”
It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being “on,” “attached” to, “connected” to, “coupled” with, “contacting,” etc., another element, it can be directly on, attached to, connected to, coupled with or contacting the other element or intervening elements may also be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being, for example, “directly on,” “directly attached” to, “directly connected” to, “directly coupled” with or “directly contacting” another element, there are no intervening elements present. It will also be appreciated by those of skill in the art that references to a structure or feature that is disposed “adjacent” another feature may have portions that overlap or underlie the adjacent feature.
Spatially relative terms, such as “under,” “below,” “lower,” “over,” “upper,” “lateral,” “left,” “right,” and the like, may be used herein for ease of description to describe one element or feature's relationship to another element(s) or feature(s) as illustrated in the figures. It will be understood that the spatially relative terms are intended to encompass different orientations of the device in use or operation in addition to the orientation depicted in the figures. For example, if the device in the figures is inverted, elements described as “under” or “beneath” other elements or features would then be oriented “over” the other elements or features. The device may be otherwise oriented (rotated 90 degrees or at other orientations) and the descriptors of relative spatial relationships used herein interpreted accordingly.
Referring now to the drawings, a conventional electronics cabinet, designated broadly at 200, is shown in
In some cabinets, the handle 212 may be arranged in a pocket formed in the door 210. The pocket may protect the handle from environmental conditions that may degrade the handle or latches (e.g., oxidation). A pocket 214 of a cabinet 200 may be best seen in
The handle 212 may include one or more features (not shown) designed to restrict unwanted access to cabinet 200. One common example is the inclusion of a keyway (or keyhole) on or near the handle 212. Another example of a feature includes providing one or more through-holes in the handle 212, which are dimensioned to receive a shackle of a padlock.
A conventional padlock is as shown in
The locking mechanism of the padlock 300 may be locked and unlocked, and, correspondingly, the shackle 304 or shackle toe 308 thereof may be engaged or disengaged, via one or more actions. For example, a key may be inserted into a keyway located on a side of the lock body 302 (such as the side opposite the shackle 304). As another example, a codephrase (e.g., alphanumeric or numeric combination) may be entered using one or more rotating dials. More recently, a signal may be transmitted to a receiver within the lock body from a remote device (e.g., via a signal transmitted using BLUETOOTH, WI-FI, or other communication protocol). The inventive concepts provided in the present disclosure may be used with padlocks or locks having any type of locking mechanism, and those explicitly recited herein are provided for context, and not as limitations on the scope of the present disclosure.
Conventionally, installation of a lock (e.g., padlock 300) onto a cabinet (e.g., cabinet 200) is as follows. The lock may be unlocked, disengaging the shackle toe 308 from the padlock body 302. The shackle toe 308 may be then fed through the receiving through-hole of the handle 212 of cabinet door 210, and then may be re-engaged with the padlock body 302 and the locking mechanism therein.
Although deployment of a padlock 300 prevents some instances of unwanted entry into the cabinet 200, padlocks 300 and cabinets 200 are susceptible to forced entry attack. Such forced entry attacks may be through using tools such as bolt cutters, chisels, hammers, drills, torches, pry bars or the like, and may permanently damage or destroy the padlock. In some situations, the handle 212 may be pried off of the cabinet 200, even when padlocked, and access to the latching mechanism coupled to the handle may be achieved, thus allowing opening of the door or door panel 210.
To address such attacks, the present disclosure provides systems and apparatuses that reduce access to a handle of an electronics cabinet 200 and/or to a padlock 300 attached to a handle 212 of an electronics cabinet 200.
The handle cover 110 may be manufactured as a unitary body using any suitable manufacturing process, and may be manufactured preferably of steel (e.g., 0.090 galvanized steel which in some embodiments may be powder coated), although other materials having contextually appropriate properties may be considered and utilized by those of skill in the art. The handle cover 110 may be substantially “V” shaped along its longitudinal or long axis, with the center portion 113 at the “bottom” of the “V” shape having a width (e.g., sidewalls 111 of the handle cover 110 may not share a common edge, but rather may be each adjacent to the center portion 113). Further, the handle cover 110 may have a pair of tabs 116 extending substantially parallel the center portion 113. A pair of through-holes 112 may be positioned roughly halfway along the long axis of the handle cover 110 and dimensioned to receive a shackle (e.g., the shackle 304 of the padlock 300). Further, an opening 114 may be positioned lower than the pair of through-holes 112 (when the handle cover 110 is viewed in a front view). The opening 114 may have outer edges which are angled with respect to the long axis of the handle cover 110, and the positioning and dimensioning of the opening 114 may be to receive a padlock 300 where the shackle 304 thereof is passed the through-holes 112 during installation of the padlock 300. As discussed further herein, the opening 114 may be dimensioned and positioned to receive a shackle cover (e.g., the shackle cover 150 shown in
Installation of the handle cover 110 may proceed as follows. First, the handle cover 110 may be positioned such that the through-holes 112 of the handle cover 110 are aligned with the through-holes of the handle 212 of the cabinet 200. The handle cover 110 may be held in place during this operation (even though the handle cover 110 might not be affixed to the handle 212 or to a surface of the cabinet 200). Then, a shackle 304 of an unlocked padlock 300 may be fed through the through-holes 112 of the handle cover 110 and the through-holes of the handle 212 (e.g., through a first through-hole 112 of the handle cover 110, then the through-holes of the handle 212, then a second through-hole 112 of the handle cover 110). The padlock 300 may then be locked by engaging the shackle 304 with the padlock body 302 and the locking mechanism therein. The padlock 300 may then be lowered into position into the opening 114.
The handle cover 110, in view of its dimensioning such that the tabs 116 are flush with the surface of the cabinet 200 (e.g., door 210, front wall 208 and/or a surface of a pocket 214), and in view of its sidewalls 111 being dimensioned to receive the handle 212 in a channel therebetween, may prevent prying or other tampering with the handle 212 itself when the padlock 300 is installed. In this manner, the handle cover 110 may act as a theft deterrent by itself.
Some embodiments of the present inventive concepts include, in addition to the handle cover 110, a shackle cover 150.
Referring to
As best seen in
The shackle cover 150 may be open to the rear; that is, there may be no rear surface between the rear edges 158 of the outer walls 152. The front wall 151 of the shackle cover 150 may be dimensioned such that an area above the upper tab 154 is open, as best seen in
The shackle cover 150 may be dimensioned such that when the theft deterrent system 100 comprising the shackle cover 150 and the handle cover 110 is installed on a cabinet 200 using a padlock 300, the upper tab 154 of the shackle cover 150, when the shackle cover 150 is lowered into installation position relative to the handle cover 110, may abut an upper edge of the opening 114. Further, as seen in
Although the through-hole 168 and shackle slots 156 and 166 of the shackle cover 150, and the through-holes 112 of the handle cover 110 are illustrated herein to be circular or semi-circular in shape (e.g., dimensioned to receive a shackle having a circular cross-section), other shapes of such features are within the scope of the present disclosure. For example, where the shackle 304 sought to be used to protect a cabinet 200 has a square or rectangular cross-section, those of skill in this art will appreciate that corresponding dimensions or shapes in the through-hole 168 and shackle slots 156 and 166 of the shackle cover 150, and the through-holes 112 of the handle cover 110, may be selected so that these features may be able to receive the shackle 304.
Installation of a theft deterrent system 100, and a handle cover 110 and a shackle cover 150 thereof, may proceed as shown in
Depending on the configuration of the cabinet 200, and the handle 212 thereof, a “right-handed” version of the shackle cover 150 may be needed, as shown in
In some embodiments, for example where a cabinet has a symmetrically opposite arrangement to the one shown in
As shown in
In accordance with the above, parts of the theft deterrent system 100 provided herein may be mounted and secured to the cabinet 200 using only a lock (e.g., the padlock 300) and other mounting components or extra hardware may be omitted. Further, it is envisioned that no or little drilling or cutting of either the cabinet or of the components theft deterrent system 100 components may be required to install the theft deterrent system 100, as the dimensions of the padlock 300 and the shackle 304 thereof are incorporated into the design of the theft deterrent system 100. Accordingly, field installed cabinets may be updated with the theft deterrent system 100 more easily, with minimal retrofitting required.
In accordance with the present disclosure, the handle cover 110 may prevent access to an existing handle 212 and/or padlock ring thereof of a cabinet 200 and may be used to increase security. Furthermore, using a shackle cover 150 may further protect access to the handle 212 and provide additional protection to a padlock 300 to prevent damage or removal of the padlock 300 or the handle 212 using saws or cutting tools. In some embodiments, the handle cover 110 may be used without the shackle cover 150, for example, where only an increase to latch security may be needed and there may be reduced or minimal worry about access to the padlock itself. The shackle cover 150 may be used in conjunction with the handle cover 110 to secure the door handle padlock tab and the padlock itself. It is envisioned that in some embodiments the installation process may performed without any tools other than the lock itself and without any modification to an existing cabinet.
In addition to the different embodiments shown above, those of skill in this art will appreciate that other configurations may also be suitable for use. The inventive concepts being thus described, it will be apparent that the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the inventive concepts, and all such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are to be included within the scope of the following claims.
The present application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 to U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/666,814, filed on May 4, 2018, and entitled “THEFT DETERRENT SYSTEM FOR ELECTRONICS CABINET DOOR,” the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference as if set forth herein.
Number | Date | Country | |
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62666814 | May 2018 | US |